Kitty Bartholomew, host of HGTV's Kitty Bartholomew: You're Home, creates beautiful mobile storage boxes to conceal items (such as a sewing machine) and a decorative box that looks like a trunk. Boxes are covered with fabric using a number of simple methods. For under-the-bed storage, purchase a corrugated cardboard under-the-bed storage box from a discount store (cost is usually about $2). Add Roll-Arounds Self-Stick Wheels® to make the box mobile. No tools are required: just peel off the backing, and stick the wheels to the bottom of the box. Add fabric-covered foam-board dividers to the inside of the box to store rolls of Con-Tact® paper or gift-wrapping paper. Add batting and fabric to the top of a wooden storage chest to create a padded seat cushion. Place wall-mounted shelves above a door or high on a wall to store those items you don't use often. Do you have a number of make-up brushes or paintbrushes? Take a block of wood and a 1/2" drill bit, drill holes in the wood, and stand the brushes on end to store. Camouflage bulky items such as sewing machines by making a cardboard box look like a trunk and placing it over the item you want to conceal. Cut four pieces of foam board to correspond to the dimensions of the box's four sides; each piece should be 5" wide. Using PEELnSTICK® double-sided adhesive, place them around the top edge of the box to give the illusion of a box lid. Be sure to reinforce the top of the box with foam board too so it can hold a lot of weight. The least expensive way to cover a box with fabric is to use spray adhesive. Spray it on the box, and place fabric over it. Smooth fabric. Or use HeatnBond® by Therm O Web. Following manufacturer's directions, iron HeatnBond to the fabric. Peel away the paper backing, and attach the fabric to the box. The product comes in 1"-wide rolls for small projects, in sheets for larger projects or by the yard at fabric stores for even larger projects. (This episode mentions an easy-to-use product called Fabri-Craft by Rubbermaid, which unfortunately is no longer on the market.) Cover the faux lid of the box in a coordinating fabric. Add metal trunk-corner hardware to the corners of the box with hot glue or crafter's cement. Since the hardware is only decorative, you don't need any stronger adhesive. Add a faux trunk-lock hardware piece to the center of one side of the box. And there you have it! Save the boxes from large purchases (e.g., sewing machines) so you can create a "trunk" and hide them away.
RESOURCES :
Roll-Arounds Self-Stick Wheels
Keysan Catalog Co.
Greensburg, PA 15601
Phone: 724-834-9091
Fax: 724-834-9357
Email: keysan@keysan.com
Website: www.keysan.com
HeatnBond® Iron-On Adhesive
Website: www.thermoweb.com/cpd-ultrahold.html
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